FOOD FIGHT!

              

PHOTO CREDIT: The Food Bank of Waterloo region website

Meet Mayors Carl Zehr and Brenda Halloran. Now, now don't be alarmed... although our two fine cities of Kitchener and Waterloo may disagree at times, this isn't just a regular meeting... our Mayors are prepping themselves for battle.

They're not fighting over rapid transit, amalgamation or any of those other pesky issues however, they're entering the battlegrounds as teammates for the Great Canadian Food Fight.

There will be no wasting of food in Waterloo Region though, our Food Bank of Waterloo Region been pitted against FEED Nova Scotia, the Regina Food Bank and the Mustard Seed in Victoria, BC to collect the greatest amount of food possible in 48 hours. The battle is simple:

From 6 pm October 11 (today!) until 6 pm Oct 13, food can be dropped off at the Food Bank, at grocery stores, many workplaces, Kitchener, City Hall, Kitchener Fire Headquarters or any Waterloo fire station. The food will be collected and weighed and the city that collects the most food, wins!

900,000 people a MONTH use food banks in Canada. 

13,000 children in Waterloo Region alone go to school hungry every day.

38% of food bank clients are children and youth

So while we have fun battling for food donation supremacy, there are too many Canadians who are counting on the food collected in order to live.

It's staggering. It's unacceptable. It's heartbreaking.

This morning, as I volunteered at the Nutrition for Learning breakfast club at Highland Baptist Church in Kitchener, one of the girls told me she didn't have a lunch. While we searched the church coffers for something to send with her, I thought about the fact that if it wasn't for the breakfast club, she wouldn't have eaten all day. She's 8 years old.

If you're friends with me on facebook or twitter, you'll see the #GCFF hashtag flying around as we start a game of food tag. I take a picture of food I am donating to the food bank. By tagging you in it, you've officially been challenged to make your own donation and challenge some of your friends. It doesn't have to be big or expensive, any little bit helps.

Who's Hungry?

I’ve recently had the opportunity to see a Food Bank of Waterloo Region emergency hamper up close and I’ve got to admit, I was pretty impressed. The hamper had a ton of fresh fruit and vegetables, almost too much for what many families would use. There was a pineapple, 2 heads cauliflower, lettuce, 10 lbs carrots, red onions, 5 lbs plums, 6 oranges, 6 pints grape tomatoes, apples, 18 kiwi, 3 lbs strawberries and 3 heads celery. The dry goods did not include any macaroni and cheese boxes, which I found surprising but did include packs of dry pasta, pasta sauce, cup of soup packets, cookies, cans of corn and tuna helper. The proteins in the hamper included chicken wieners, smoked sausages, hamburger, lamb shanks and sliced deli ham. Now the proteins, from a health perspective could use a bit of work but I was amazed at the amount of good offerings in the hamper, especially considering that the public often only hears requests for the basics like mac & cheese and peanut butter.

Our local food bank feeds 26,500 people in the region annually. 900,000 people across Canada use their own local Food Bank annually. That is a lot of hungry Canadians. It is thanks to companies doing food drives, families using food banks as a teaching tool, local store and farms donating excess produce and large volume suppliers that offer volume discounts to the Food Bank that these people were able to eat.

Can you imagine not being able to feed your family? How hard must it be for someone who has worked their entire life to admit that they have hit the bottom and are no longer able to provide for their own children or themselves. It is estimated that for every 1 person who goes to the Food Bank, another 3 people don't. This may be because it can be hard for some to access a food bank but in many cases, it can be because they are afraid to admit that they can’t provide those basic necessities for themselves ad their families. In a world where the almighty dollar is a status symbol, it can be a crushing bow to someone who is already knocked down to admit that they have none.

I’ve learned that there is nothing wrong with asking for help. In any situation, whether it be asking for business help from a mentor, help with an event from a friend, help with paying your bills through a credit agency, help with finding money to pay your rent or help with money to start your own business, there are always people out there who are more than willing to lend their support and expertise.

Since some people aren’t so great at asking for help when they need it, I’m going to ask for them. No matter where you live, there is a Food Bank. In small towns they may just be located within a local church and in a metropolis they may be huge distribution centres, but they are there and they need your help. If your family is able to in any way, find a way to donate to your local food bank. When you have small children, I find donating food is best because it is a visual lesson for your children. Remember, a $1 bag of dry pasta and a $1.50 jar of pre-made pasta sauce will feed a family of 4 for dinner and quite possibly lunch the next day. It doesn’t take a lot to help someone in need. If you’re able to, cash donations are even better. With bulk buying power and serious discounts from manufacturers and distributors, food banks can usually turn your $1 into anywhere between $3-$5. That takes your $1 package of dry pasta and turns it into 5! So if you donated $10 which your large food bank turned into $50... that could feed a family of 4 for an ENTIRE WEEK. For $10.

"Free" with Donation

Summer especially, there are a lot of "free" festivals in the city, which is fabulous. However, a lot of event advertise, "Free, with a food bank donation", "Free, with a donation to ______ (insert the charity of choice)".

I love encouraging people to give, especially to our local Food Bank but there's one problem... some of the people who want to go to the "free" events the most are also clients of the food bank. I took someone to an event last week who was almost denied entrance because she didn't have a donation. Had she given one, she would have given up dinner for the night.

Food for thought.